I arrived early at the El Al area of terminal 1 Heathrow, immediately spotting the bright coloured labels of my travel company,Page & Moy, singles section, ‘Just You’.
I introduced myself to the first & quickly others did the same.We queued to checkin,then as instructed on up to the Service-air departure lounge where we could eat, drink & chat [excitedly] for the next two hours.
By the time we boarded our plane we had bonded & were ready for what was to come, none of the 25 had ever been to Israel,numbers male & female almost even with an age range of 40ish upwards.
Arriving late in Tel Aviv with very little security,my passport was stamped, luggage collected & Richard the tour rep took us to our coach/hotel for a night stop in Tel Aviv.
Next day,weather like London, we drove to the old port of Jaffa & Caesarea to see the ancient Roman city of Judea,with theatre & aqueduct:
Then to Haifa & Acre,finally on to Tiberias for two nights…here the view from outside glass lift !
“Roman emperor Tiberius. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70, it became a centre of Jewish learning and later the seat of the Sanhedrin and rabbinical schools. The Talmud was edited there in the 3rd/6th centuries. Saladin took the town from the Crusaders in 1187.
The modern town was refounded under the British mandate in 1922 and became part of independent Israel in 1948.
Historic sites include the tomb of the great Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides.”
Next day a trip on the ‘sea’ of Galilee & a lunch of St Peters fish……delicious !
On to Tagbha to the Church of the Mount of the Beatitudes & the Church of Multiplication & the 4th century mosaic floor…..this is how the week went on more & more wonders to see.
For this trip you need to be fit & prepared for walking, standing & climbing steps.

My first impression of Israel was that this is a mind boggling country,beautiful,spotlessly clean,modern & so full of historic culture still being found, with all sites immaculately conserved.
They have trams which look like the Japanese bullet train & almost silent.
So far no security seen or politics or discussed.

Not prepared to be threatened or blackmailed by Iran & others, any longer, Israel is to build an alternative to the Suez Canal.

Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week a new railway link will connect Eilat & Tel Aviv, this is to be finalised but will take about five years to complete & open up trade from India & China.

Woohoo !!

“A train ride from Tel Aviv to Eilat in two hours and a freight train line that would complete the Red Sea link between Europe and Asia will dramatically change the face of Israel in the near future, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet Sunday morning.

He said it will take another Cabinet discussion before finalizing plans and added that China and India have expressed strong interests in the proposal for the trans-continental freight line.

“There is strategic importance both nationally and internationally for the construction of the line,”… Read more